Reassurance Robots: OCD in the Age of Generative AI
Grace Barkhuff
TL;DR
This study investigates how generative AI (GenAI) influences Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) by analyzing 100 Reddit posts from an OCD-focused community. Using grounded theory, it identifies AI-based obsessions and compulsions that align with existing OCD subtypes and reveals GenAI can function as a 'Reassurance Robot' that may worsen symptoms. The findings highlight risks associated with reassurance, confession, and decision-making accommodations provided by GenAI, underscoring the need for defensive design in mental health AI systems. The work contributes to HCI and OCD literature by detailing novel OCD presentations in the GenAI era and urging safeguards to promote user safety and treatment integrity.
Abstract
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder characterized by distressing repetitive patterns of thought, referred to as obsessions, and behaviors aimed to reduce the distress, referred to as compulsions. The explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) into the modern zeitgeist through the introduction of generative AI (GenAI) systems such as ChatGPT has led to novel obsessions and compulsions involving AI in individuals with OCD. Through an exploratory qualitative analysis of 100 Reddit posts related to AI on a popular subreddit for OCD, I examine the ways AI is impacting the presentation of OCD, including novel examples of AI-based obsessions and compulsions. I argue that GenAI in its current form harms individuals with OCD by becoming "Reassurance Robots," and that future designs of GenAI must take OCD into account.